Stalking

a. Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to:

Fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others, or

Suffer substantial emotional distress.

b. For the purpose of the Stalking definition:

Course of conduct means two or more acts, including but not limited to, acts in which the stalker directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicat es to or about a person, or interferes with a person’s property.

Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim.

Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may, but does not necessarily, require medical or other professional treatment or counseling.

Examples of Stalking

Scenario 1: A female student reports that she is being followed by a man she met at her job at a café off-campus. He began showing up at the café and would not leave her alone. Since then she has also noticed him following her around campus and she fears for her safety. Include this as one incident of Stalking on-campus since the first occurrence on Clery Act geography occurred when the victim noticed the perpetrator following her on-campus.

Scenario 2: Several students belonging to the university association of Hispanic students have reported being watched or followed by the same unknown man on various parts of campus. All of the students reported fearing for their safety as a result of his behavior but none of the students saw the man more than once. Do not include this as Stalking in your Clery Act statistics because, given that the man has never approached the same student more than once, the course of conduct was not directed at a single individual,

Scenario 3: A female student reported that she is afraid for her safety because her ex-boyfriend has been sending harassing emails to her private email account over the past several weeks. She opened the first five emails in her off-campus apartment. However, earlier that day she opened another email on her mobile phone while walking on campus. She came directly to the Campus Police to report the behavior. The location of the ex-boyfriend when he was sending the harassing messages is unknown. Include this as one on-campus Stalking because the first incident in the course of conduct to occur on Clery Act geography was the victim reading the email on-campus.

Scenario 4: A male student reports that his ex-girlfriend has been sending him harassing text messages. The ex-girlfriend attends another university 200 miles away. While at home over summer break, the ex-girlfriend showed up at the student’s house every day asking if he has a new girlfriend at school. Now that he has returned to school, she sends him daily text messages threatening to “check-in” on him on-campus. The ex-girlfriend sends these text messages late at night and the victim receives them when he is inside his on-campus dorm room. Include one incident of Stalking in both the on-campus category and in the on-campus student housing facility category if the male student fears for his safety as a result of this behavior.

Scenario 5: A male student reported a Stalking course of conduct to Campus Police during the spring semester. During the investigation, Campus Police established that the first incident in the Stalking course of conduct to occur on Clery Act geography took place on public property. When the student returned to campus for the fall semester, the Stalking continued when the perpetrator repeatedly waited for the victim in the hallway outside the victim’s dorm room in an on-campus student housing facility. Since the spring and fall Stalking incidents involved the same victim and the same perpetrator, the fall incidents should be considered a continuation of the Stalking course of conduct that started in the spring. Include this as one Stalking incident on public property.